7 User Reviews of Voyager Cruise Ship

Considering the luxury experience and the six-star rating it
advertises and considering the high prices it charges, we expected
only the best from Radisson (now Regent) for this two-week Asia
cruise (and had enjoyed ourselves very much on two prior, one-week
RSSC Mariner cruises). Flaws that can be accepted from mass-market
cruise lines should be rare on a luxury line. When measured against
these standards, on the whole, RSSC and Voyager did not measure up.
While many aspects of the cruise met at least a five-star standard
and some were six-star, the overall cruise did not provide a truly
luxury cruise experience. The overwhelming shortcomings to this
cruise were the senior on-board hotel staff, the arbitrary changes
to an exciting itinerary, and the inconsistent dining.

Let's start with what I expected. A cruise line (or anyone else)
should provide the product advertised. While some "puffery" is
normal, and while there can be quibbling over the quality of any
aspect of a cruise, the product as a whole should measure up to the
advertising. On a "luxury" cruise, that means (a) consistently
excellent continental cuisine, (b) a responsive staff prepared to
provide a luxury

experience at all levels and to deal with problems quickly and
professionally; (c) modern and clean staterooms, (c) well-appointed
public areas; (d) unobtrusive service; (e) high quality lecturers,
activities, and musical programs; (f) efficient boarding, cabins
ready at embarkation; (g) no lining up and waiting for tenders,
etc. Where I have not commented here, this ship and line met those
expectations fully (e.g., cleanliness, efficient and easy boarding,
quality of cabin stewardess, etc.).

The Positive about this cruise.

(1) This ship. It is well-designed, new, clean, comfortable,
quite attractive, and generally well-maintained. It is very much in
the mold of the new cruise ships (multi-story atrium, etc.). The
cabins are unusually large and well designed, including a walk-in
closet. Cabins below the penthouse level are larger and more
comfortable than similar accommodations on other lines. The public
spaces are attractive and, with a couple of minor exceptions,
comfortable and functional.

(2) The junior staff (waiters, room stewardesses, bar
attendants, etc.) were competent, pleasant, and sufficiently
conversant in English (staffing changes in the last few months may
have put these into question). They generally knew what they were
doing and worked hard to please. The maintenance staff likewise
seemed generally competent, although several requests for repairs
(including a ventilation problem) went unanswered for more than 24
hours.

(3) The Tour Office staff. The three people did an outstanding
job of handling ship's tours and private tour arrangements, with
unfailing good humor, efficiency, and accuracy. This was
particularly difficult in the face of a constantly changing
itinerary (see below).

(4) Single seating dining and open seating dining are big
pluses. They provide relaxed, enjoyable dining. While passengers
seem to settle in to an individual table after a day or two (a few
of them did try to lay claim to window tables), it is nice to have
the option of sitting where you want and with whom you want.
Service is usually well-paced and there is no pressure to finish so
that the next seating can be set up.

(5) The inclusion of wine in the dining room in the cruise price
is a welcome touch. No chit to sign every night. (The downside, one
waiter confided, is that the policy of including wine and drinks
seems to consistently attract a certain type of passenger who
overdoes the alcohol, especially on cruises of less than 14 days.
We did see a few such instances.)

(6) The port lecturer.

(7) Latitudes Restaurant. It was too small and crowded for the
number of passengers they seated the one night I was able to eat
there. This is an almost trivial comment because - although
contrived - the theme concept was very well carried-out. The credit
for that goes to the exuberant, young, and completely charming
serving staff. They made us feel like they were putting on a
private theme dinner party for a group of close friends, that they
really cared that it be a complete success, and that they did
everything possible to make it so. The food, too, was very
enjoyable. This was one of the few occasions on this cruise that I
felt that I was having a truly good time and that the cruise line
really wanted me to have that good time.

(8) The advertised itinerary for this trip, Singapore to Tokyo,
segments of the 2004 world cruise (actually the Circle Pacific
Cruise), was exciting and enticing.

The Negative:

(1) RSSC chose to disregard that exciting itinerary. One port (Hong
Kong) was extended by a day, two port days were changed altogether,
two port stops were shortened (one of them by about 12 hours and
one by about 5), and one stop was eliminated altogether. (One
additional port was missed because of bad weather.) There were no
weather problems or terrorism concerns to justify any one of those
unexplained changes.

Passenger questions/complaints about these changes were given
short shrift by senior staff. As one senior official in the hotel
department said to me when I asked what was going on with the
schedule, and this is a direct quote, "We can do whatever we
want."

While the schedule changes were bad enough, RSSC compounded the
problem. Several of the changes were decided by RSSC management
days in advance (including changing of two port days), but none of
them were announced until the last minute. As a result, several
passengers missed out some on private sight-seeing that they had
arranged.

When RSSC elected not to deliver the cruise it advertised, we
deserved two things. First, we deserved prompt notification of the
changes. Second, we deserved a clear and compelling explanation for
divergence from the schedule or some form of restitution and/or
apology. RSSC provided neither.

(2) Senior staff problems and attitudes were not limited to the
attitude about the schedule. I heard that several of the senior
staff on the hotel side were newly promoted. It appeared that
several of them neither knew nor were prepared for their new jobs
and at least one did not seem to care. Senior hotel staff members
were not respected by junior staff, although junior staff members
were clearly terrified of several of them. Senior staff was
generally inaccessible - no response to phone messages, not in
their offices or on deck, etc.; the only time that the Hotel
Manager's office door was ever open were the days that the
President of the company was on board. This is also true on land.
RSSC's customer relations person in Florida did not return any one
of my four post-cruise telephone calls.

(3) The overall impression was that the ship was not run with
passenger satisfaction as the goal, but rather that it was run for
the convenience of management. (Note that I did not have this
impression of RSSC on prior cruises). This is the first and only
cruise on which I felt that I was merely along for the ride.

(4) Dining room food quality and service were inconsistent,
lurching from very good to excellent at some meals to mediocre at
others. Some nights the dining room was excellent in all respects
but, on just as many other nights, it was no better than "good"
overall. There were too many lapses, some main dishes were
tasteless, particularly fish and poultry (tasteless grilled salmon
one night). Oddly, the dining room was consistently better at lunch
than at dinner. The service on several nights was painfully slow -
25 minutes wait for the order to be taken one night with no head
waiter or maitre d' in sight and bickering waiters another night.
While an occasional mistake or oversight is to be expected, the
mistakes were too frequent for a luxury cruise and the ship was no
more than about 60 percent full during this segment.

(5) Of the two nights I ate in Signatures Restaurant, one night
was truly very good. The food was very well-prepared, attractively
and attentively presented, and service was perfect. The food on the
other night, unfortunately, even with the identical menu, arrived
bland and overcooked.

(6) There is far too much vibration on this new ship,
particularly in the aft portion when the ship is trying to go fast
(above about 20 knots). It was unfortunately very noticeable in my
cabin. It took four days of requests to be moved to a vacant cabin
of the same category. Several other passengers also said that they
asked to be moved because of it. Once again, when I first asked
what was happening and whether the problem would be fixed or
whether we could be moved, the same senior staff member simply
dismissed me: "All ships vibrate." The bottom line is simple, if
you go on the Voyager, do not get a cabin in the aft portion of the
ship.

(7) The art auctions. The quality of the "art" was poor (aside
from there being just too many mediocre prints of famous pictures)
and was too "mass market." It clutters up, cheapens, and detracts
from otherwise enjoyable and usable public spaces. Please, let's
get rid of art auctions . . . and not just on this ship and this
line.

(8) Entertainment. Maddeningly inconsistent. The Broadway
reviews, comedians, etc. were interchangeable with any other line.
The music at the shows was always too loud. There was one very fine
classical performer.

SUMMARY. A very mixed cruise experience. Those things that were
done well were exactly as one would expect from a luxury line and
exactly as the advertising would lead you to believe it would be
done. However, they were overshadowed by the negative. Inconsistent
dining is just not a part of luxury cruising. Itinerary changes
where necessary because of weather or security and when reasonably
announced in advance, on the other hand, are a part of cruising.
However, the arbitrary changes to this cruise, compounded by the
disdainful attitude of the senior staff and management on this and
other issues, was just unacceptable.

My partner Doug and I took our first cruise on the Radisson
Voyager October 15-24...and what a choice! From the moment we
stepped onto the ship in Venice, we felt at home in the luxurious
surroundings and pampering of the Radisson family. Additionally, We
were very lucky as this cruise was only 70% full and the weather
cooperated splendidly for mid-October in the Mediterranean (sunny
every day except for one day of rain in Corfu!).

Here are the high points of the Voyager: 1. Ship was
magnificent, sparkling clean, beautiful design and decor, spacious
as expected. It was just the right size to "get lost in" if you
wanted to, yet intimate enough to get to know a lot of people.
Facilities were all excellent, especially the Judith Jackson Spa,
casino, theaters, library, etc.

2. We had a Penthouse Suite B with Butler on Deck 8, a bit
larger than the already-spacious regular deluxe suites. Again,
sparkling clean, soooo roomy, and we loved the washer and dryers
right down the hall. the

It was so lovely to sit on the balcony in our bathrobes and
watch the beautiful sunrises and sunsets over the Aegean Sea. We
saw all of the room types on the ship, and we were more than happy
with our choice (if we'd been in one of the larger suites, we may
not have left our room!).

Others we talked to said that cabins in mid-ship were better
(decks 7-9), and that there was no benefit really to being higher
up (and it was a pain to go up and down the stairs/elevators all
the time).

3. Dining options were wonderful! In fact, we didn't have a bad
meal on the ship! Compass Rose had the most variety of course, and
they had no problem with us ordering more than one appetizer,
entree or appetizer. Portions were, thankfully, smaller, something
everyone seemed to enjoy since it left more room for the yummy
desserts (or second entrees!). Since the ship wasn't crowded at
all, we managed to eat twice at Latitudes and twice at Signatures
(New York night at Latitudes was very memorable). A good hint is to
wait outside the door of Latitudes and/or Signatures for
cancellations at these reservations-only restaurants; many people
got in at the last minute. We were also pleased with the more
casual food in the Bistro. Alcohol was NOT a problem as we could
order drinks anytime at meals, or pay the very reasonable rates at
the bar.

We ordered room service breakfast a few times and while we liked
the convenience, some of the hot dishes invariably were cold. So
I'd recommend fussy breakfast eaters get dressed and go to the
dining rooms! Room service was able to whip up special request
snacks (like hamburgers and milk shakes) for us a couple of
afternoons--no problem!

4. Entertainment was stellar. The 3 Broadway-style song and
dance revues were great, as was the racy comedian and pianist. We
were most surprised by the lounge pianist Chris Hamilton (he's a
brilliant Oxford grad and ex-lawyer from London), who could
entertain anyone with his skillful piano-playing, smart monologues,
and special shows on Cole Porter and Noel Coward. A real crowd
pleaser! If you see him, say hi from Stan and Doug.

There were plenty of interesting on board activities and
lectures to keep us busy.

5. Staff and service were six-star all the way. Fun Cruise
Director Barry Hopkins set the tone, and he got to know most
passengers by name. Our butler Sujee was so sweet (although we got
reservations at the restaurants on our own), and everyone who
served us in the restaurants was professional, courteous, and
upbeat. The hotel staff and front desk/tour desk staff could handle
any problem that came up, especially the chaos that ensued with the
impending taxi strike in Athens. The no-tipping policy (which we
decided to adhere to so as to not mess up the policy for others)
had absolutely no negative effect on the staff's work ethic or
upbeat attitude. That fine Radisson training really works!

6. Fellow passengers were friendly, fun, and well-traveled.
Several people we met were staying on the ship for 4 segments or
more. It was remarkably diverse, from a 95 year old, sprightly
Englishwoman who knew Churchill, to many retirees, adventuresome
singles, and even some younger honeymooners and stylish gay
couples. We did share tables with strangers at Latitudes since it
was such a hard reservation to get. We weren't sure what to expect
as we had to be some of the youngest people on board, but we ended
up LOVING our dining companions. Everyone was in a good mood on
this ship! And we ran into more than a few dedicated Cruise Critic
folks on board!

The only VERY minor criticisms: 1. Computers are PAINFULLY slow
and sometimes you'd pay $4--$5 without seeing many web pages! We
had one day when the satellite was down with no computer
access.

2. Shore Excursions information was sometimes outdated and/or
wrong/misleading. For example, they said it was an "adventure" to
get from Fira town to Oia on Santorini, when on our own, we took a
$1 public bus and arrived in style in 30 minutes to the most
spectacular town on the island of Santorini! Some fellow passengers
complained that the excursions in Corfu, Rhodes, and Santorini were
disappointing with not much to see.

Of course, we know that all ship excursions, on any cruise line,
are over-priced and they want to sell them; Radisson just need to
be more upfront about the details and or alternate touring
possibilities.

Therefore, more adventuresome types should go ahead and try to
do the excursions on their own (depending on the itinerary of
course).

3. Glaringly (because of the stellar service we experienced
elsewhere), the poolside barbeque/casual lunch staff was a bit curt
and/or forgetful at times. Very, very minor.

We can't say enough positive things about the Radisson Seven
Seas Voyager. Everything about her and the cruise exceeded our
expectations in every way; the rooms, facilities, staff, etc. have
spoiled us for any future cruises!

The Radisson Voyager is truly six-star, luxury cruising at its
finest. We miss her already!

I took my first luxury cruise on Radisson's new Seven Seas
Voyager as a special way to celebrate my 50th birthday. With its
large cabins, the Voyager is perhaps the most comfortable ship
afloat. We picked an 11-night Baltic Sea cruise that departed
August 19, 2003. Having taken 20 other cruises on mass market
lines, mostly Princess and Celebrity, I was afraid that once I
stepped into the luxury market I'd be so spoiled that I'd never
want to sail on anything else. I could taste the caviar, lobster
and champagne as I envisioned days of being pampered.

Luxury cruises are expensive. Our cruises on Princess and
Celebrity usually were in balcony cabins at about $300 per couple
per day. The cruise on the Voyager cost $1000 per cabin per day,
more than three times as expensive as our other cruises. Was it
worth $1000 a day? Pour yourself a little champagne and read on to
find out.

At these prices you have to judge Radisson with a more critical
eye. A deficiency that easily could be overlooked on a $300 a day
cruise should not occur when you're paying $1000 a

day. The one word that best describes the Radisson experience for
me is inconsistent. The cabins and personal attention were
wonderful. It was great not to have to wait in line for anything
and have servers bring you any food or drink you wanted. But the
food was disappointing and the service not quite what it should be
at these prices.

Embarkation: Even though they say boarding begins at 3PM, you
can board as early as 11:30AM. You're met by one of the cruise
staff, given a glass of champagne and escorted to a lounge to check
in and have a security photo taken. Then you can have lunch at the
pool grill or sandwiches in some of the lounges. There's no hot
lunch available except for what's cooked on the grill, hamburgers,
chicken, and steak sandwiches. The rooms are not usually ready
until about 2:40PM but you can tour the ship while you wait.

The Ship: The Voyager is one of the best ships afloat in terms
of passenger comfort, 49,000 tons and only 700 passengers. Other
ships that size could carry up to twice the passenger load. To
fully appreciate the Voyager you have to venture inside. From the
outside, the ship looks like so many of the newer floating hotels.
Not much on the outside appears special. It's painted all white.
There is not even much of a promenade deck. With no chairs, it's
really just a place to duck outside for some fresh air if you
happen to be on deck 5. The centerpiece of the ship is an atrium
that goes form deck 3 all the way to the top on deck 11. The
Voyager is furnished in an elegant but simple fashion. There's not
much to wow you until you enter your suite.

The Suites: This is where the Voyager clearly leaves other ships
in its wake. The minimum suite is a 300-sq. ft. cabin with an
additional 50-sq. ft. balcony. There is more than enough room for
two people. The sitting area has a full size sofa with two
additional chairs and a small table. There's also a desk and bar in
the sitting area, and a small vanity by the bed. The bathrooms are
fabulous -- full-size and marble, there is a separate shower,
bathtub, and large sink with plenty of storage space. There's also
a walk-in closet with enough hangers and room for everyone's
clothes. And there are cushions for your two lounge chairs on the
balcony. And remember this is all in the minimum cabin.

The Food: When I did a little on-line research before the
cruise, passengers had said the food on Radisson was on par with
Celebrity. This surprised me since, at these prices, I felt the
food should be a lot better than on Celebrity. It was not. The
overall quality of the food was my big disappointment on the
cruise, the only area that did not meet expectations. The food was
inconsistent. A few of the meals were the best I've ever had on a
cruise ship. Others were major failures.

There are four restaurants on the Voyager. The Compass Rose is
the main dining room, with open seating. Show up anytime and eat
with whomever you wish to dine. I never saw anyone waiting for a
table. And there are plenty of tables for two for those who don't
want to eat with others. While the food at Compass Rose is
certainly good, the menus and preparation of the food left a lot to
be desired. We felt much of the food was overcooked or not seasoned
properly. The meals our first two nights in the Compass Rose were
so unmemorable that we didn't eat there again until the final two
nights of our 11-night cruise. On the second night, which was
formal, they served Beef Wellington and lobster tails. Both were
disappointing. The beef was overcooked and the lobster tails were
very small baby lobster tails that lacked texture and flavor. I've
had much better Beef Wellington on Princess and better lobster
tails on every other cruise I've taken. They didn't even stock
regular lobster tails, only the baby ones. This was very surprising
for a luxury cruise. On the last formal night the waiter forgot to
serve the sherbet course to our entire table. To their credit, they
did accommodate special requests for cherries jubilee and baked
Alaska.

There are two specialty restaurants that require reservations.
Signatures is a gourmet restaurant, part of Le Cordon Blue. Its
philosophy is the exact opposite of Burger King. At Signatures you
have to have it their way. No substitutions, no special orders. But
there's plenty on the menu to satisfy almost all tastes. For the
most part, the food is very good to excellent and presented so
artfully that I took pictures of some of the dishes. By the way,
the dress code for Signatures is always at least semi-formal, even
on causal nights.

The other specialty restaurant is Latitudes. Here, they serve
different dishes from different restaurants around the United
States. Everyone eats at the same time, 7:30PM. Your only menu
choice is between two main course items, usually a meat and fish.
At Latitudes we noticed the greatest inconsistency. This is where I
had both the best and worst dishes ever on a cruise ship. Some of
the food is truly excellent. A shellfish soup and a fillet mignon
in a wonderful sauce were the highlights of the food part of the
cruise. But on our second visit and with a different recipe, the
same excellent cut of fillet mignon was not properly seasoned and
served on top of a puddle of bland beef consume. The unanimous
opinion of the six people at our table was that the beef turned out
bland and tasteless. It was as if the chef had not even bothered to
taste it. Deserts also were inconsistent. A pecan pie was
overcooked and tough.

Some tips for making reservations at Signatures and Latitudes.
If you want your choice of times and days, make your reservations
as soon as they start taking them at 3PM on the day of sailing.
They'll only let you make one reservation for each restaurant. But
you can book a larger table and invite someone you meet later.
After a couple of days when everyone has had a chance to make their
first reservation, they will let you make a second one. If they do
fill up you can always try for a cancellation. We ate in Latitudes
two nights when there were at least 10 empty places for people who
had made reservations but didn't show up and neglected to call.

If you have a hearty appetite, beware of any dishes where the
meat comes sliced. The polite term would be to say the portions are
"delicate." In other words, they're small. We had three different
meals of sliced veal, sliced duck breast and sliced Chateaubriand
that amounted to no more than 2-3 ounces of meat in a serving. You
should have seen the expression on my face on the last formal night
when I ordered Chateaubriand and I got a plate with two small
1/8-inch thick slices of meat. The entire table asked for more meat
which the waiter brought after a wait that seemed too long.

The fourth restaurant is La Veranda, always casual and with an
outdoor seating area. We only ate there twice, although some people
felt this was the best food on the ship. Its theme is a
Mediterranean Bistro. Humus and chunks of Parmagiano cheese await
you with bread on the table. The atmosphere is warm and inviting.
Much quieter than Compass Rose. Here the appetizers are served
buffet style, and the waiter brings your entrée and some deserts.
Other deserts are available from the buffet. On the whole, I
thought the food in La Veranda was very good. They had an excellent
lamb shank, and I don't even like lamb. But others at our table
were not as impressed by the food here.

To be fair about the quality of the food, I spoke to many people
on the cruise that were delighted with it. They loved every bite.
It's interesting how two people can experience the same meal and
come away with two completely different impressions. But I was not
alone in my feeling that the food was inconsistent. Everyone in our
core group of eight passengers felt the same way. And while the
quality of the food wasn't always excellent, the presentation was
beautiful.

The Drinks: All drinks at meals are complimentary. However,
except for wine with dinner, they don't tell you the drinks are
free. They never offered a pre-dinner cocktail or an after dinner
drink. But they are free if you ask for them at the dinner table
and the waiters will bring them. This applies in all restaurants.
Non-alcoholic drinks are always free anywhere on the ship.

Upon arrival you select an in-room bar set up of two bottles of
liquor or wine. You also get two cans of beer and mixers, soft
drinks and bottled water. The non-alcoholic beverages are replaced
as needed. To our surprise, we found that, other than water, we
really didn't drink anything in our suite. There are so many
opportunities to drink elsewhere on the ship that we didn't have
much of a desire to drink in the room. I ended up lugging the two
unopened bottles of liquor back home.

Radisson does not seem to make much of a profit on drinks. The
most expensive glass of red wine we ordered was $5.50 and most
cocktails were no more than $4.75. I know people have suggested
that Radisson just go to an open bar policy. But they would have to
raise cruise fares to do it and those who don't drink would end up
further subsidizing those who do drink. I would suggest a
compromise that would give passengers a choice of the in-room
liquor or a shipboard credit. A $50 bar credit would have been more
use to us than two bottles of liquor we never had time to drink in
the room.

The Service: It was always prompt, professional and attentive.
With a ratio of 1.5 passengers to 1 crew, the ship excels at
service. Even tables in the buffet restaurant are set with table
clothes and silverware. Same for tables in the Horizon Lounge at
teatime. As soon as you sit down at a table anywhere, someone is
usually quick to come to take a drink order. But as good as the
service was, there is still room for improvement. Only about a
quarter of the time did the serves make an attempt to address me by
name. Almost every time I was drinking soda, I had to ask for a
refill, instead of the server coming to me to ask if I wanted
another one. And in only one case did the server bring a refill
without asking or being asked.

The room stewardess and her assistant were very professional in
doing their jobs. I never had to ask for anything for the room. But
again, they never made an effort to address me by name in the 11
days of our cruise. They only would say "good morning" or "have a
nice day" when we passed in the halls. I've taken cruises on
Princess and Celebrity where the room steward was calling me by
name on the second day. These are small points but they are
important if you want to be the very best.

The Lounges: They are all comfortable, pleasant and simple. Not
much leather or glitz. Most of the chairs are cloth. The
Constellation Theater is the main show lounge. There always were
seats available. The Horizon Lounge featured afternoon tea and
evening dancing. The Observation Lounge was my favorite, on deck
11, glassed in and overlooking the water. A quiet place to have a
drink or tea and watch the ship sail. There is also the Voyager
Lounge outside the entrance to the Compass Rose. Great for a drink
before dinner, it turns into the disco later.

The Staff and Crew: Cruise director Barry Hopkins was excellent.
He and his staff made an effort to chat with and get to know
everyone. I felt the ship's management was accessible if anyone had
a problem. The Captain also seemed accessible and was on the bridge
to answer passenger questions during the two sea days when the
bridge was open for visits.

Entertainment: The 10 singers and dancers who did the three
production shows were excellent. The rest of the shows in the main
showroom were a bit spotty. I felt some of the entertainer's acts
were not good enough to sustain an entire show. But you really
can't expect to have all top acts on a smaller ship. There was also
an on board enrichment lecturer who many people thought was great,
even though I didn't get to hear her. And the cruise director Barry
Hopkins did a couple of lectures himself, on digital photography
and the Royal family, which were popular and entertaining.

Internet Access: Available in the top suites and in the Internet
café. The price for surfing the net is very reasonable. You're
charged only for actual downloading time. It's less expensive to
use a web-based mail account like Hotmail than to use the ship's
email address. With the ship sailing full, there was sometimes a
wait for a computer terminal.

Laundry: Free self-service laundry, including detergent, is
available on all decks. With only two machines per deck there
sometimes was a wait.

Dress Codes: On the Voyager there are three: casual, semi-formal
and formal. I've concluded that ship dress codes really apply only
to men. Women can wear anything but jeans. A black pantsuit can
double for casual and semi-formal nights. Add a string of pearls
and you can wear it for formal night too. So for the men, formal
means tux or dark suit and tie. About half the men wore tuxes.
Semi-formal is a jacket, tie optional. Most men wore ties. Casual
means no jacket. About half the men wore them anyway.

Tipping: This is a topic that seems t get people riled up. The
policy on Radisson is that all tips are included in your cruise
fare and no tips are expected on board. They even tell you on board
that tips are not expected. Some people felt the need to tip
anyway, sometimes up front, and believed they received better
service. I didn't tip extra and my service was fine. However, as
much as people don't like the hassle of tipping, I believe that you
will never get service as good as you would get when the employee's
income depends on a personal tip from you.

Conclusions: Radisson is an excellent cruise line and I would
sail it again. Some people have said it's like a floating Four
Seasons resort. But I didn't feel that it was quite up to that
level. The Voyager excels in its cabins, passenger comfort and
service. In my opinion the food needs improvement. At these prices
the food should be much better than the mass-market lines, not on
par with them. What you're paying for on Radisson - and you're
paying a lot for it - is a larger cabin, much more attentive
service, not having to wait in line, and a more exclusive group of
passengers. Whether you think it's worth three times the cost of a
mass-market cruise is a personal choice. I wasn't won over
completely. But I would like to sail a luxury line again. When I
do, I think I'll try Crystal's new ship Serenity so I'll have
something to compare with Radisson.

For those who want to see my quick synopsis of this cruise,
without having to read the "novella"..

This is not a drop dead gorgeous ship. There is no jaw dropping
moment when you see her exterior, or interior, for the first time.
But she is tastefully decorated, and we felt comfortable on her
almost immediately.

The service was outstanding in all areas, except the dining
rooms, where we found it be spotty.

The food was found to be of artfully presented, but
unexceptional quality when it came to beef dishes. Fish and seafood
lovers seemed to fare better.

Itinerary is what made this cruise for me. Superb and enjoyable
ports. and such a busy itinerary we really didn't get the chance to
experience the ship as much as we would have liked.

Now on to the FULL story..

I have been eyeing a Baltic Itinerary for some time, and noting
it was the 300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg, I thought this was
the perfect time to visit. Travelling so far, we decided to
pre-cruise a couple of days in Stockholm, Sweden.

We stayed at the Radisson SAS Royal Viking Hotel; a pleasant, if
unspectacular,

but well located hotel. Most of the prominent tourist spots and
museums were within walking distance of the hotel, and Mrs. Kuki
and I put a lot of miles on our Nikes. We did a half day bus tour
to get an overview of the city, but most of the time just walked,
and continued walking, taking in whatever sites we happened upon.

Stockholm is a nice city, with seemingly friendly people, but
most things, from food to souvenirs struck us a fairly expensive.
However, in my view, it's a city worth visiting.

The ride from the hotel to the pier is only about 15 minutes,
and when we arrived at the pier, just prior to noon, and there
seemed to be no other passengers around. We showed our cruise
tickets and I.D., went through X-ray and security, and walked
onboard. The remaining check in process was in the Celebrity
Theatre, and consisted of handing them a credit card, receiving our
cabin key/charge card, and in three minutes we were done.

They did inform us that our cabins would not be ready until
2:30, but pointed us to the pool deck where lunch was being served.
We didn't need to be told twice, and away we went for our first
taste of Radisson food, and service at the poolside grill. There
was no standing in line at the grill. Staff at the grill took our
order for food and drinks, and told us to sit and make ourselves
comfortable.

I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but seeing the ship
sitting at the pier, and then walking onboard, there really was no
WOW factor. Nothing in the public areas around the atrium struck us
as particularly spectacular, until we got to our cabin. Seven Seas
Voyager is an all suites all balconies ship. Our cabin was a CAT F,
standard suite, with a very comfortable layout and colour scheme,
featuring grays, taupe's, a creamy green, and light wood trim.

The real treat in these cabins is the incredible amount of
storage space in the cabin and in a full size walk in closet. That
topped off by the nicest bathroom I've seen on a ship. The bathroom
is completely done in marble, and aside from a full sized bath tub,
offers a separate glassed in shower stall. The shower was roomy and
had as much water pressure as my shower at home. This is an area
where I find many cruise ships suffer, but the Voyager was
superb.

A bit more on cabin amenities later.

Fellow Passengers

This being my first Radisson Seven Seas cruise, I wasn't really
sure what/who to expect for fellow cruise mates. There was a
somewhat surprising, very broad cross section of age groups, with
the average age not noticeably different than what we've
experienced on Celebrity, Princess, or even RCI and Carnival. The
only exception, we only saw 15-20 kids under 18 onboard.

I will say, of the people we got the opportunity to talk to, we
encountered a very well travelled group. And they are not just
cruise enthusiasts. They seemed to love travel of any kind, and
most were very travel savvy.

One might imagine a bit of a pretentious crowd on a luxury
cruise, but this was not apparent to us at all. Most everyone
seemed more than willing to chat at every opportunity, and it was
very common to be greeted by fellow passengers at all times,
whether it was simply passing each other in a hallway, or while
sitting at tables near to each other in a lounge. Though they were
apparently a well heeled group. Possibly, because they were on a
luxury cruise, they may have had an expectation that they were in
the company of their peers. But, you never know as I was in their
midst.

One thing I did notice was almost blind devotion and loyalty to
Radisson from many of the passengers we spoke to. Negative comments
from past Radisson passengers were rarely heard, and not looked
kindly upon when made by others.

What They Do Well. And Not So Well

Heading out on a "luxury" cruise on Radisson Seven Seas our
expectations were admittedly quite high. Considering the relatively
high cost of such a cruise I believe these high expectations to be
justified.

What we found was not entirely perfection. On this ship there
were things they did very well, and quite different, compared to
the "mass market" lines, and there were areas where we felt they
fell short of the mark.

Earlier I mentioned the ease of the check in/ embarkation
process. One would be hard pressed to find a more relaxed and
efficient embarkation process.

Another major plus; without fail, each and every crew member we
crossed paths with throughout the ship made a point of greeting us.
This was not only very welcoming, but somehow also very
comforting.

It was also a nice treat finding our shipboard charge card
stayed in our pockets the majority of the time. Sodas and bottled
war are complimentary throughout the ship; both in the cabin mini
bars, and all of the lounges and public areas. House wines were
complimentary at dinner, in all dining venues, as were a number of
after dinner drinks. Two bottles of your choice of alcohol are
complimentary for your in suite bar.

In fact, about the only time one had to pay for liquid
refreshments, was for the odd cocktail at the ship's bars and
restaurants. The oddity in this policy is that there is a charge
for wine in the dining rooms during lunch in the dining rooms and
restaurants.

Basically Mrs Kuki and I don't drink much wine or liquor, so
this policy did not affect us directly.

Another nicety occurred on a sea day when there was a German
themed buffet poolside. The buffet that day had a most extensive
selection, and they were serving complimentary German beer this day
throughout lunch.

On another occasion there was a "Martini Night" in one of the
lounges, and everyone present received a free Martini.

All of these were "nice touches", but when we had our
CruiseMates group cocktail party the appetizers offered were
unimpressive, and quantities skimpy. It was one of those moments,
that just didn't add up, or fit, with the way they did the majority
of things on this ship.

Radisson Seven Seas features onboard self laundry, with
complimentary detergent automatically dispensed. These laundry
rooms were, surprisingly, very busy. I guess I didn't expect this
"well heeled crowd" to be doing their own laundry on a cruise, but
I was proven wrong.

We encountered a strange phenomena with regard to elevators on
the ship. There are two sets of elevators on the ship. Two aft, on
either side of the staircase, and four of them forward, in the
atrium. The aft elevators are perhaps twelve feet apart, yet if you
press the button at one, to call an elevator, it is not
synchronized with the other elevator. Not an earth shattering
problem, for certain, but none the less. odd.

The same situation repeats with the four atrium elevators. Only
here it seems the four are divided into two set ups. One call
button reaching two of the elevators. Another call button reaching
the other two.

Mrs Kuki and I were invited to dine with the Captain on the
Voyager. A very gracious and friendly host and an evening we
enjoyed a lot. There were a couple of things that surprised us
about this evening.

Firstly, we were instructed to meet the social hostess outside
of the Compass Rose Dining Room, so we could be escorted into the
dinning room. An invitation to dine with the Captain, in our past
experience, is a bit of an event. In this case, meeting in the
hall, rather than in a lounge, for a pre-dinner drink, minimized
"the event", in my view.

On other lines this experience has been enhanced with drinks
prior to dinner, perhaps a rose for the ladies, and a souvenir
photograph of the group. Perhaps on Radisson they feel passengers
aren't interested in a photo of them with "the help", or perhaps no
one wanted evidence of having dined with me.

On a positive note, unlike the mass market cruise lines, who
normally site security concerns when they turn down request to
visit the bridge, the Voyager has an open bridge policy on sea
days. Any of the guests may tour the bridge at these times, you do
not have to wait for an invitation.

In contrast to this trusting position I did have to laugh in the
casino when I saw the dealers had to check all bills presented
larger than 20s with a special pen used to detect counterfeit
money. So. they'll let any passenger on the bridge, but when it
comes to money, they want to make certain you're not a crook.

Service

We found the service to have areas of strength, and surprisingly
some weakness. While one might have expected other areas to have
some shortcomings, I thought it reasonable to expect service to be
close to perfect throughout the ship.

The time we dined in Signatures (the ship's Cordon Bleu
alternate restaurant) service was indeed near to perfect. Even in
Le Veranda (the ship's buffet style restaurant) the level of
service was acceptable, and on occasion exceptional.

However, I was surprised to find service in The Compass Rose
(the ship's main dining room) to be rather spotty, with orders
being taken wrong and delivered to the wrong person. A few times we
were offered bread or rolls once when we sat down, but then had to
ask if we wanted more. They should either leave the bread basket on
the table, or be sure to offer more throughout the meal.

Normally, all these errors were relatively minor, and easy to
correct. Yet, the errors were more frequent than we expected.

Especially the first few nights, service in the Compass Rose was
not better, and perhaps worse, than my experiences on previous
"mass market" cruises. Though it did improve some as the cruise
progressed.

Latitudes, the ship's other alternate restaurant seemed to be
understaffed, in regard to front end service staff. There was the
Maitre 'D, a wine sommelier, and six servers (a combination of
waiters and ass't waiters).

In other areas of the ship, we experienced wonderful service,
even exceeding my high expectations, but food service was often
spotty.

For buffet breakfasts in Le Veranda we never really had to stand
in line because it is not a typical buffet set up. Orders were
taken at the buffet, and servers brought your choices to your seat
when the order was prepared. There are no coffee or juice machines
in this restaurant either. Coffee, juice and other drinks are
served at your table, once you are seated.

This same system was in place at the poolside grill, except
during the themed lunch buffets, which produced fairly large
crowds. Even then, when we reached the end of the buffet line, a
staff member was there to find a table for us. We didn't have to
wander around, with our food in hand, looking for an open
table.

Service in our cabin was exceptional. Our cabin stewards, Dorota
and Melchor, were efficient, and always smiling when we saw them.
Leaving the cabin in the morning, and being greeted with a huge
smile, and a pleasant greeting got our days off to a great
start.

I carry my own thermal cup, when I travel, which I use for my
coffee fix in the morning. Dorota went so far as to wash this cup
for me when she was making up the cabin.

Radisson makes it very clear that tipping is not expected. In
fact, they say it is included in your fare. I did, however, notice
on the last night of the cruise, all the cabin stewards were
available in the hallways, and we saw many passengers tipping them,
just as we did.

FOOD

The Voyager has a number of alternatives when it comes to
dining. The main dining room, Compass Rose, features open seating.
Come whenever you chose, during open operating hours (seating 7PM
to 9PM), and dine with whomever you like. The room is large enough
to seat everyone, and we never saw any waiting at all.

A couple of nights when it was just Mrs. Kuki and I entering,
rather than with a group, the Maitre D did make a point of asking
if we wanted a table for two, or would care to join others at a
table.

I thought it was excellent service to ask this question, rather
than just assume we wanted a table for two.

Food itself, of course, is an area of personal taste, so it's
wise to keep in mind, that these are my thoughts. As the saying
goes. your mileage may vary.

The menus in all venues onboard are fairly exotic. However, I
oddly found the selections to be somewhat limited. Perhaps three
appetizers, two salads, one pasta, and three entrée choices. In
addition there were "always available" choices which consisted of a
steak, fish, and pasta choice.

Fish and seafood lovers would probably be most satisfied with
the menus. Being a meat and potatoes guy, making selections was
more of a challenge. My personal tastes run to beef, veal, pork,
chicken, and pasta. A number of dining times I was surprised how
often I had to revert to the "always available" section of the
menu. And frankly, I found the steak on that portion of the menu to
be less than exceptional.

A couple of times variations of beef tenderloin were offered,
and they were very good. Unfortunately other cuts of beef were of
lesser quality. And once, even though the quality of the tenderloin
was excellent, it was so bland to be disappointing.

Portions of everything seemed to be on the small side. Lobster
tails were small, and one night when Beef Wellington was offered,
the portions were tiny. and not particularly tender or tasty.

Presentation, on the other hand, was very artful. Everything
always looked great, with the taste, unfortunately, occasionally
not matching that standard. This was particularly true with
desserts. They looked so fabulous, I certainly never passed on the
chance to taste them though.

One thing in this area, on Radisson that you won't find on any
of the more mass market cruise lines; with 24 hrs. notice you can
pre-order pretty much anything you want for dinner the next
evening, whether it's on any of the menus or not. The limiting
factor, of course, would be that the ingredients are onboard.

The Cordon Bleu restaurant onboard is Signatures. This is a
reservations only restaurant, but there is no extra charge. Both
food and service here were fabulous. Signatures has a set menu,
that does not change throughout the cruise, though selections
seemed interesting and plentiful.

My thoughts though are that on a "luxury cruise", an alternate
restaurant should simply be a different choice, not an entirely
different, higher level of service and food quality from the other
dining venues.

The ship offers one other alternate restaurant, Latitudes.
Latitudes had only one set seating each night, and the menu, though
changing themes nightly, was a set menu. You are limited to a
choice of one of two entrees. The rest of the menu. appetizer,
soup, etc, is set. Your choice is simply yes or no.

Though the theory of the restaurant is "cute", with an open
galley where guests watch the chefs prepare the meal, the final
product, including the service was, frankly, not that
impressive.

The Cabin

Radisson calls the Voyager an all suites, all balconies ship,
and they'd likely be upset to see me referring to the suites as
cabins. They are really nice, and well designed cabins, that's for
sure.

Aside from being tastefully furnished, they are well laid out as
well. The standard "suites" are 300 sq. ft., with a 50 sq. ft
balcony. The highlight of these cabins is without doubt the
washrooms. Mostly marble finishes on the floors, walls and
vanities, and all have a full size bathtub, as well as a separate
free standing glass shower unit.

The bathroom is spacious and comfortable, with lots of storage
space. And, just as in fine hotels, there's even a telephone in the
bathroom. I was tempted to order room service to our washroom,
thinking I could just flush it, thereby skipping a step.

The cabin also has a walk in closet. It's very well organized
with plenty of hangars and shelf space, as well as a programmable
personal safe.

The sitting area is large enough to be comfortable, with a full
size sofa and two side arm chairs, and a cocktail table. Against
one wall is the desk, and a cabinet stocked with glassware for
drinks and wine glasses, with drawers underneath, as well as a mini
bar. There is no mirror on the wall above the desk. That's saved
for the vanity table located next to the bed, in the other part of
the cabin.

The bed was very comfortable, and the linens, pillows and duvet
were of good quality.

Another nice amenity here. Aside from the telephone in the
bathroom, there are two other telephones. One next to the bed, and
another on the desk, in the sitting area.

The cabin has excellent lighting controls and individual climate
controls, which actually seemed to function in keeping the cabin as
warm or as cool as we chose.

Unfortunately, attached to this great cabin is a pretty small
balcony, with room for two chairs and a small table. The chairs are
simple plastic resin types, but do have cushions for some added
comfort.

The BIG problem with this cabin should be rectified by the time
you are reading this report, because the ship is going into dry
dock at the end of Sept to repair a propeller which was damaged
earlier in the Voyager's Baltic season.

Unfortunately we had to live with this unfixed problem for our
entire cruise. The damaged propeller caused our cabin to shake
dramatically most of the time we were out at sea. It was so bad, we
looked even more forward to our port days.

It felt as though we were living inside the mouth of someone
who's teeth were chattering because of cold weather, and it did
make for some sleepless nights. I have been on ships that suffered
from some vibration problems before, but never experienced anything
like this.

I'm surprised I didn't hear of a revolt of all the passengers
living in the aft end of the ship, because surely other suites in
the area had to be experiencing the same problems. Radisson
obviously knew of the problems, and thus the upcoming dry dock. I
would have expected them to offer some compensation to all
passengers located in the aft portion of the ship, who had paid
significant dollars for a luxury suite. and naturally wouldn't
expect it to vibrate more vigorously than the bed in a $20
motel.

As a matter of fact, half way through the cruise, half way
comment cards were left in the cabins, asking what Radisson could
do to improve our experience. I thought this was a nice touch, but
was less impressed, when after my rather dramatically negative
comments, no one followed up and contacted me to have any kind of
discussion of my concerns. I thought this made it rather obvious
that they didn't read the comment cards.

Entertainment

I am not a "Vegas show" kind of guy, but I generally do like to
attend the "guest star" shows. In the case of the Seven Seas
Voyager, and from feedback from Mrs Kuki (who does attend most
shows) I should have reversed my tact.

I saw a comedian and a magician who were both somewhat pathetic.
The comedian was telling jokes older than I tell. The magician must
have been pretty good at his craft, because he made me disappear
half way through his show.

Mrs. Kuki reported that the production shows were well done,
with quality costumes, sets and performers. She also told me about
a fantastic violin player who's performance I missed. But, so did
the majority of passengers apparently, because she estimated the
audience to consist of about 35 people.

There was a guest lecturer onboard who also drew rave reviews,
but the timing of her lectures and presentations seemed to be odd
(one was at 10 PM, after a long day not for me), never matching my
schedule, so I can't offer any person opinions.

There were bridge classes and play, and computer classes, and
tours of the galley, etc. However, this was such a busy itinerary,
I didn't even get around to checking to see what types of
participation they were getting.

On this cruise the itinerary really was the entertainment, so
you'll forgive me if the information in this section is a bit
sketchy.

Lounges

As mentioned, because of the very port intensive itinerary our
actual time onboard the ship was somewhat limited, and much of it
was spent sleeping, recovering from exhaustive touring.

If I was spending more time onboard I'd have likely been less
than impressed with a couple of the lounges. The Voyager Lounge,
outside the Compass Rose, is long and narrow, and though it's
supposed to function as the ship's disco, it's physical layout
certainly isn't conducive to that type of use.

Like the tiny, long and narrow, Connoisseur Cigar Bar, both seem
to be afterthoughts to fill minimal amounts of space.

The Horizon Lounge, located aft, is a larger venue, and featured
dance bands. Quite a nice physical set up. There are tables and
chairs outside the lounge on the stern, but unfortunately the
weather wasn't conducive to us taking advantage of them.

On Deck 11 forward the Observation Lounge offers the most
pleasant atmosphere of all the lounges, with comfortable
furnishings and a panoramic view. This is a non smoking lounge.

Though I happen to be a smoker, I think it's an excellent idea
to have at least one lounge onboard totally smoke free.

Overview

In many ways the Radisson Seven Seas Voyager displayed the
differences between a luxury cruise and a more mass market
experience quite dramatically.

In others, they fell short. Overall, I'd rate this ship an 7 ½
out of 10. Pretty darn good, but I have rated previous cruises on
less luxurious cruises higher.

They do have room for improvement in the quality of their dining
room food and service. Being such a key area, and considering they
refer to themselves as a 6 Star cruise line, they should take steps
to make changes.

Frankly, I'd be very interested in taking another Seven Seas
cruise. I'd be interested to follow up to see if my experiences
were typical or anecdotal.

Radisson has refined and updated its outstanding Seven Seas
Mariner into the near perfect Seven Seas Voyager. There is great
attention to detail that is noticed in your Suite, Public Rooms and
Dining Rooms, and even among the attitude of the Staff and Crew,
for you, the passenger, are about to be treated as the center of
all attention during your cruise. The fact that no tipping is
expected on Radisson does nothing to diminish the quality of
service and in fact seems only to enhance the atmosphere aboard
ship.

All cabins are now outside balcony suites. The starting Deluxe
Suites are 306 sq.ft. plus a 50 sq.ft. balcony. Although very
similar in floor plan to many cruise lines' mini suites, the extra
square footage is noted in extra cabin width and length resulting
in a very comfortable space. Two people can use the bathroom which
has a separate tub and stall shower. The walk-in closet has more
than adequate hanging areas and wall bureau. The seating area can
comfortably seat 5 people around a cocktail table and still have
aisle access to the balcony. The details in the cabin include a
continual

supply of fresh flowers and fruit, built in night lights, pool
towels, deckchair blankets, umbrella, the latest in interactive
TV's with DVD players and game boards (upgraded Suites have their
own Computer terminal station). There is also a complimentary Bar
Setup with your choice of 2 bottles of liquor with all mixers,
sodas, and bottled water replenished as needed.

In fact throughout the cruise there are no additional charges
for soda or bottled water. Also at Dinner a selection of wine is
offered at no additional charge. What a nice change from other
cruise lines where one's charge card is presented like a reflex
whenever one wants something to drink. Also there is no circus like
atmosphere marketing the drink of the day or to purchase your wine
for dinner.

There are two open seating dining venues and two reserved dining
venues at no additional charge. I actually enjoyed the main dining
room Compass Rose the most, however the reserved Signatures
Restaurant operated by Le Cordon Bleu trained chefs and the more
contemporary Latitudes Restaurant should not be missed. Latitudes
features the kitchen and your chef, preparing center stage,
regional cuisine specialties. My experience was Sonoma Valley
serving recipes from highly recognized chefs and establishments of
that area on a new Villeroy and Boch pattern.

An item of interest that is missing when one goes to the buffets
is the tray. There are none. For as one fills their plate a wait
staff member will be nearby to take your plate, seat you, and bring
you anything else you may have overlooked. These buffets in general
do not offer the overwhelming selection as found on huge ships
feeding 2000-3000 passengers, but all selections are of very high
quality and well prepared with an outstanding staff to obtain and
serve any particular request.

Another highlight of the cruise was the showroom entertainment
in the Constellation Lounge. There was a different show every
evening consisting of excellent cabaret type performers in addition
to production numbers. The young singers in these productions were
outstanding exhibiting a range of performance from Opera Arias to
Broadway to 60-80"s Hits. Also while in St. Petersburg a local
classical pianist and Russian Folkloric Singers and Musicians
performed with ice cold vodka served to all after the
performance.

This 7 night Baltic Cruise is very port intensive with excellent
sightseeing opportunities both independently and through the ship's
organized tours. I was surprised with the general youthfulness of
the passengers. Expecting more octogenarians I would not be
surprised that the average age was in the 48-60 year age range.
There were a number of families with teenage children. Radisson
does have youth programs and counselors aboard. I look forward to
returning to the ship perhaps with a less active itinerary where
one could really appreciate all the amenities and service that the
Seven Seas Voyager provides.

My wife and I have enjoyed nine cruises with Regent Seven Seas
cruises. We booked a cruise for November 2012, starting in Cairo,
and traversing the Red Sea, to Jordan, Oman, then through the
Straits of Hormuz to Dubai, Abu Dabi, ending up in Mumbai,
India.

With the turmoil and US attacks in the middle east, I contacted
Regent, where the agent told me that they had contacted their local
agents, and there was no risk. We were afraid that it would take
only one deranged terrorist to blow up a bus filled with hated
Americans, but the agent informed us that Regent saw no risk, and
the cruise would continue as planned. We cancelled, forfeiting over
$20,000. A letter to Mark Conroy, President of Regent has had no
reply or acknowledgment. I do know of several similar cruise
itineraries on other lines that have been changed, but Regent
continues to put it's passengers at risk. I expected better.

I have enjoyed reading the reviews of the other August/ Baltic
travelers. And in an effort not to simply repeat, I will note that
I mostly agree with the comments offered. The ship is lovely even
if not visually spectacular and one very quickly feels comfortable.
Cabins & their service are excellent. Staff is professional
& personable.

I concur that the cuisine should be, as Emeril would shout,
kicked up a notch both in variety and preparation; presentation was
restaurant quality. Where we became unhappy campers was vis a vis
the entertainment which we found to be disconcert-ingly weak both
in shows and lounges. We enjoy dancing pre/post dinner, but found
'a piano' rather uninspiring and unexciting. The hair salon,by
Carita, is highly priced for unexceptional talent.